Tom Toles for August 17, 2020

This scene is actually part of what is necessary if we are to reopen schools before there’s an effective vaccine. Of course, here in the USA, we have inadequate testing to handle this necessity. Apparently because our federal administration wants it that way… as utterly deranged as that sounds.

Child endangerment.

Also endangerment of parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, teachers, staff, playmates.

Those who ignore science are telling us that we must offer up our children and everyone important in their lives as human sacrifices on the blood-spattered altar of greedy corporate profits and stock market gains.

Stock market goes up (the economy of the few richest elites at the top).

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) — the REAL economy that measures actual productivity — plummets at an all-time record rate, a decline of 9% for the quarter; 32% for the year to date (first two quarters).

Trump kills Americans and, in failing to manage a pandemic that most other countries got under control, the REAL economy as well. More of that Republican “fiscal responsibility” (the same “fiscal responsibility” that has brought us every major economic recession or depression in more than a hundred years, since Democrats created the Federal Reserve to provide monetary policy management tools).

Republican “fiscal responsibility” — the economy collapses and they’re responsible.

Lose surprise tests can be a real bugger.

Make America Sick Again – {4 beats/line}

Wouldn’t we be fools // to go back to our schools

when the Covid’s rules // say that sneezes and drools

will Make America Sick Ag’in?

Wouldn’t this be to insanity akin?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

USA Today August 5, 2020: President Donald Trump defended his call to reopen schools this fall by claiming children are “virtually immune” from COVID-19 and that the coronavirus will “go away” soon.

{Off-topic:}

Lord of the Flies – {limerick}

His base dudn’t realize

that their prez is The Lord of the Flies.

So they rhapsodize

o’er a Prince of Lies, -

- who’s a dude whom we Others chastise.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

There is no alternate truth.

Incidence of COVID-19 in Children

In the United States and globally, fewer cases of COVID-19 have been reported in children (age 0-17 years) compared with adults. While children comprise 22% of the US population,3 recent data show that 7.3% of all cases of COVID-19 in the United States reported to CDC were among children (as of August 3rd, 2020). The number and rate of cases in children in the United States have been steadily increasing from March to July 2020. The true incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children is not known due to lack of widespread testing and the prioritization of testing for adults and those with severe illness.Hospitalization rates in children are significantly lower than hospitalization rates in adults with COVID-19, suggesting that children may have less severe illness from COVID-19 compared to adults. Visit CDC’s Cases, Data, and Surveillance page for current CDC data.

Infections and Transmission Among Children

It is unclear whether children are as susceptible to infection by SARS-CoV-2 compared with adults and whether they can transmit the virus as effectively as adults. Recent evidence suggests that children likely have the same or higher viral loads in their nasopharynx compared with adults7 and that children can spread the virus effectively in households and camp settings.

Due to community mitigation measures and school closures, transmission of SARS-CoV-2 to and among children may have been reduced in the United States during the pandemic in the spring and early summer of 2020. This may explain the low incidence in children compared with adults. Comparing trends in pediatric infections before and after the return to in-person school and other activities may provide additional understanding about infections in children.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/pediatric-hcp.html

Rhyme Toles Terri had a cotton swab 081120

”Terri Had a Cotton Swab”

Terri had a long cotton swab,

Its tip was white as clouds or snow,

The school nurse shoved it up her nose

As far as it would go.

.

Young Terri didn’t know the risk

From a thing she couldn’t see.

A tennis ball with push-pins stuck

Was what the virus looked to be.

.

Terri liked to go to school,

She was bored to keep at home all day.

She and other kids in class wore masks

And at assigned pods had to stay.

.

It was a nuisance, she did admit,

When quarantines were declared,

And men in plastic suits came in to spray

The school and the classrooms aired.

.

Poor Grandpa in the nursing home

She could not kiss and touch.

They saw him through a window pane

(She missed him very much.)

.

A kid she knew disappeared,

And Momma said she went to Heaven.

She tried to understand why God

Would take her friend at age of seven.

.

The President talked on TV,

Seeming mad and rather weird.

Her father never cussed as much

As when Donald Trump appeared.

.

Terri was sad and confused

By these strange events about.

One’s childhood shouldn’t be like this,

Deep in her heart she thought.

Teachers assess nowadays, we don’t test.

Test is pass or fail. Or, in the case of Covid be healthy, get sick and maybe die.

Assessment is about learning. Not just right or wrong, but how to fix what is wrong.

This is the problem with all the “Distance Learning” going on right now. Very little assessment. It is all testing.

You just know this isn’t a Republican mandate when the math addition on the chalk board is correct. That’s a dead giveaway . . . kinda like them kids if the numbers don’t add up.

“Suffer the children”, as the ‘chosen one’ would say.

To the little corner guy, so does the the rest of the world (think you’ve failed).

How is teacher grading this test? On the curve? Rights minus wrong? Maybe Tiny knows.

>Sigh< They called the 1910s a “lost generation”.

“Up your nose with a rubber hose!” Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back,…

Trump claims that kids are almost immune from this virus. Funny that kids seem to catch every other virus and spread it throughout their family and friends but not Covid-19. Trump’s magat morons will believe him but nobody else does. He’s just a lying POS that will do ANYTHING to win re-election.

Speaking of education, it was 130 in Death Valley, Global Warming anyone?

Something else the Republicans are ignoring.

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/08/scorching-temperature-in-uss-valley-could-be-global-high/

As a guinea pig in one of the vaccine tests, I had my first nasal swab test last week. They’re right…it feels like your brain is getting stabbed. I wouldn’t wish that on any child.

There IS a big difference there.

As difficult as it will be, our three boys are all going to be remote learning this upcoming semester. My wife has immune system problems and would be likely to die if she got Covid-19. Schools are ideal incubators for any disease. When I taught I had three or four colds every year and got the flu twice. Children, by their very nature, are unsanitary and careless with the consequences being all that implies. Teaching is difficult as it is, trying to teach them how to cooperate and share while getting them to learn. It’s made worse by overcrowded classrooms and inadequate resources. And, what about the parents who have to work? They’re effed if they do and effed if they don’t. At least I have the good fortune (depending on how my yard apes are behaving) to be a full time caregiver. We need to remember, and not just this November, how this happened. The Orange Buffoon and the Greedy Old Pricks are evil. If I may quote Marvin The Martian, “Ooooo, this makes me so very angry!” .

World Records in Ball Dropping World Records in Ball Dropping

2001-08-06 • Presidential Daily Brief: “Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US” • Bush did nothing.

2001-09-11 • 9/11 attacks • Death toll: 2,977 (5 weeks after PDB)

2020-01-07 • Presidential Daily Brief: “Analysts concluded [coronavirus] could be a cataclysmic event.” • Trump did nothing.

2020-03-11 • WHO declared a global pandemic.

2020-04-15 • Trump suspended US funding of WHO.

2020-08-17 • US coronavirus deaths: 173,128 (32 weeks after PDB)

For comparison • Korean War (33,686) + Vietnam War (58,220) + Afghan War (7,970): 99,876

Now past • WW1: 116,516 (83 weeks for US)

Future targets • WW2 (418,500) • Civil War (~620,000) • Spanish flu (~675,000)

The back of my throat stung for hours after my COVID testing! It came out negative. Symptoms: fever, 5 days, headache beyond migraine levels, 3 weeks, muscle aches, lethargic, but negative test… that was in April, now I sleep too much and am still achy.

{Off-topic:}

Braggart’s Noise – {1.40 limericks}

The Donald ain’t got no poise

as he trumpets his braggart’s noise:

Just hear him bray // as he leads us astray

that “It’s ME who’s The Way // to save the day,”

‘though our nation The Donald destroys.

… Examples: – {3 beats/phrase}

√ To cities he sends convoys // for militaristic forays.

√ His white supremacy boys // darken the BLM’s days.

√ With the postal system he toys, // the election system to raze.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The cut my grandson’s schedule back to two days a week in the building. That cuts our risk of exposure by 60%, based on time spent possibly exposed. I wish it were 100%.

{Off-topic:}

Perusing the News – {2 beats/phrase}

Here’s how to peruse // the political news: -

- Skip the opinions // of Donald Trump’s minions,

and Don’t lookit Fox; // – they ain’t orthodox

in reporting factually // {they’re Liars, actually}.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .